I Like Gridlock: Why Christians Should Rejoice in Senator Scott Brown’s Election
Jan 19th, 2010 | By Nathaniel Darnell | Category: Lead Articles, Politics & LawSenator Scott Brown has made history tonight by becoming the first Republican and non-Kennedy to occupy the Massachusetts Senate seat in over 55 years. His catchy rhetoric about “the people’s seat” will likely be on the tongues of Americans for weeks to come.
Like many Americans, I eagerly hope that his election will result in the defeat of the notorious national Health Care Bill. It needs to die. Either a slow and gruesome death or a quick and clean death will do. But it needs to die a painful, resounding death so that such an effort will not be resurrected for many years to come.
Unlike many people rejoicing in the Scott Brown victory, however, I am not a Republican. Nor am I a Democrat. I am a Christian first and foremost. For that reason, I am far more excited when neither party is in complete control. For the first eight years of this millennium we watched the Republican Party wedge the United States deeper into statism and debt. For the last year we have watched the Democratic Party drive us deeper into statism and debt. We have watched both parties support sodomy and abortion in various ways. But when they are both in gridlock, relatively little harm occurs, and that is a mercy of God. So I laugh in agreement with Matt Chancey when he writes about tonight’s event: “The Amalekites defeat the Philistines in Massachusetts… and God laughs. Psalm 2.”
What’s all the excitement about Psalm 2 about? Well, one pertinent portion of Psalm 2 states:
Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son [Jesus Christ], lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
Although the Republicans and the Democrats may plot and poll, scheme and strategize, we can praise God that He alone rules in the affairs of men. Yesterday, today, and forever. He appoints that one Senator would die (Hebrews 9:27) and even who would take his place (Psalm 75:7). This point was driven home for me in a special way when I looked into a television monitor tonight and realized that Scott Brown’s political celebration party was being held in the exact same room in a hotel in Boston where I joined with thousands of other Christians this past summer to remember the providence of God at work and centralized in all of life through the Reformation.
Tonight what may have seemed like a victory for the Republican Party was really a victory for Christians. Tonight Jesus Christ reminded us that He is still on the throne. Not Obama. Not Bush. Not Ted Kennedy. Not Scott Brown. Jesus Christ is on the throne. “[A]t the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Philippians 2:10-11.
Each providential mercy such as this election should serve to remind us: Jesus Christ in His Lordship will bring this sad, sinful world into submission to His sovereignty. He will bring righteousness to a riven humanity. (See Matthew 1:21.)
Now that’s change you can believe in.
Great! I want to keep the free health care I already have, Psalm 91!
May the election of Senator Scott Brown lead to the death of the national Health Care Bill. This event may be a miraculous act of providential mercy.
That is my hope as well.
WHOOO-HOOOO !!!!! at least that is my hopefilled-anticipatory reaction to what has just happened.
Yesterday at 9:40pm ·
While this may be a good tactical development, it’s too bad he’s not a true liberty lover and constitutionalist. I read he’s all for big-war Obama’s escalation in Afghanistan, among other troubling issues.
Quite agreed, Jason. I probably couldn’t vote for Mr. Brown, but I am grateful to the Lord’s providence in using him to bring gridlock.
Now, what do you mean you would not vote for Mr. Brown, I mean, who else would there have been?
Emily: Vote for no one or for a biblically qualified candidate.
which is basically unrealistic.
Were John Adams, John Quincy, George Washington, Patrick Henry, Calvin Coolidge, etc., unrealistic?
With God, all things are possible (Mt. 19:26;Mk. 9:23; 10:27), and even if He doesn’t give us the outcome we hope for, we do not have the option to disobey Him (Romans 3:8; Dan. 3:16-18).
God is still on His throne. No need to “help Him out” through our compromise.
Amen, Nathaniel. Keep standing up for God’s way and against pragmatic compromise that violates our biblical duty.
No man is perfect. It is unrealistic, truly, to think that any man can be truly, “biblically qualified”. I realize that I know little and understand little, but I do know that our lives will never afford us the opportunity of being able to vote for a man void of some sort of corruption. And I believe that God would have us to use the things He gives us in order to help bring about a better country (He doesn’t place those things in our paths for us to look at and say, ‘oh, that’s nice, providential in fact, but I’m not going to support it). If you would not support someone like Scott Brown, who was basically the only option for the help of this country, then you may as well be in support of Obama and his health care plan. I don’t understand how to see it any other way. To believe that somehow, someway, God is going to bless you for thinking you are doing something by doing nothing is beyond my understanding.
Emily, you are right in saying that we cannot exclude all men with some kind of corruption. We are all sinners, and so we all would be disqualified by that standard. We are only expecting a person to meet the *minimal* qualifications the Bible specifies for an officeholder in civil government. That’s all.
We’ve discussed the biblical minimal qualifications before. One example is here: http://perseveroblog.com/?p=2641
Another example: http://perseveroblog.com/?p=947
God used the pagan Medo-Persian Empire to rescue Israel from the pagan Babylonian Empire. Likely Israel was happy about that, but that doesn’t mean it would have been good for Israel to support the pagan Medo-Persia. God, in fact, warned Israel not to do such things in Isaiah 31:1.
Yes, but I am pretty sure Israel would have “voted” for the Medo-Persians to rescue them if it came down to that.. don’t you think?
Emily, as to your last question about Israel and the Medo-Persians, hear the words of Isaiah 31:1:
“Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!”
We might similarly say, “Woe to them that trust in ballots, candidates, and parties, they they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord!”
Well, I wouldn’t go that far with it if I were you. We don’t trust in them, we use them.
I think you have had a very easy life. You will learn the hard way I am afraid, Mr. Darnell. Or maybe it shall be I who learns the hard way. We shall see.
Emily, we cannot join with those out from under the authority of God to “use” them for godly purposes. As II Corinthians 6:14-16 says:
“[W]hat fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? . . . And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
Nathaniel,
We enjoyed reading your article. It does seem that the Lord is being merciful to our country at this time. We encourage you to continue using your writing ability to challenge others to follow Christ alone. His ways are very different from the world’s ways and He is able to orchestrate events in ways that cause us to stand in awe. We must continue to pray for eyes to see His hand at work in the events around us, for clear biblical understanding and for hearts and wills submitted to Christ and His ways only.
Thanks for the encouragement it brings to us to read your blog.
Mrs. Hammer,
Well said. Thank you for your faithfulness, and for your exhortations, critiques, and perseverance. We need more women like you. God bless!
ND
Nathaniel,
I’m encouraged by your point of view but even more by your foundation which supports it in this article and resulting dialog in the comments section. As followers of Christ we should be actively pursuing spriritual growth both personally and corporately as the church at large. We are sharpened and can be used to sharpen others through respectful discussion of sometimes uncomfortable topics but we must base everything on scripture along the way… well done and thank you for doing so.
I, too, am grateful for the potential ‘death-blow-to-Obamacare’ consequence of this special election, but I believe we as Christians will increasingly need to be even more sensitive to another almost certain consequence to result. Just like in recent years so many companies in America adjusted their marketing in order to hop on the ‘green train’ (whether they actually made any real core changes reguarding the environment or not), so too I suspect many politicians will seize this opportunity to ride the grass-roots Tea Party Express into coming elections. While this fashionable alignment with ‘We the People’ may slow the advancement of this constitution-ignoring, liberty-afronting period of American governance- and again be quite appealing for many- we must be careful to avoid being deceived into voting for people with unchanged root beliefs in a more palatable package. This requires keen discernment. We must be in the word and prayer.
One more thing; you nailed it when you said:
“God is still on His throne. No need to “help Him out” through our compromise.” – AMEN!
We must not compromise our principles or place more faith in our presumed ‘understanding’ of the systems of this world (electoral or otherwise) than in The Almighty. The older, wiser men around young David attempted to “help him out” by loading him up with needless armor. David knew God well enough to completely place his faith in Him. His lack of armor actually emphasized the supernatural event that took place against Goliath! Maybe some unheardof political candidate boldly standing on outspoken Christian principles without a high-octane fundraising team is just the ‘David’ our sovereign God desires to bring national glory to Himself! Or maybe it’s an army of regular Joe’s and Susie’s and Bill’s faithfully marching through their individual lives while boldly professing the risen Christ to all the other regular -hopelessly lost- individuals they come in contact with?
Emily,
I have to agree with Nathaniel…I could not in good “conscience” or shall I say without heavy conviction vote for Senator Brown. He is not an avid supporter of two big topics that are up in the spotlih right now and that is biblical marriage and the sanctity of life. I am learning that we do have to take a stand and say that we will not support someone who believes so contrarily to God’s word. He says he believes it is ultimately a decision to be made by a woman and her doctor, and as for marriage that each state should decide that. I am sorry but marriage is a moral issue…not a state by state issue. Would you agree?
@Emily – You state, “No man is perfect. It is unrealistic, truly, to think that any man can be truly, ‘biblically qualified’.” Which begs the question – are those in leadership at your church “biblically qualified”? I would hope that they are for your sake. The root problem is that when we define “Biblically qualified” and “perfect” in a way other than the Bible does we fall into the enemy’s trap (Romans 12:2). God does not set expectations without providing the ability to acheive them (Ephesians 4:12-14, 2 Timothy 3:16-17). God has set the standard for elders/pastors/deacons in the church (1 Timothy 3), if we set men in place who are not qualified then we bring judgement upon ourselves. Likewise if we chose those who are not biblically qualified to serve in civil government (Deuteronomy 17:14-20, etc.) then we are responsible and God will hold us accountable (1 Samuel 12).
Emily,
It is clear that you disagree with Nathaniel’s point of view on the subject, but to say he has had a “very easy life” is a pretty ridiculous accusation to base an argument on. Whether or not Nathaniel has had an easy life is not relevant. What is relevant is that he writes with conviction and uses scriptures to back up his points of view. If you want to disagree with him (or anyone else), fine, but at least try to base your argument on something more than the way someone has lived, easy or not. BTW, what does an “easy life” have to do with the way someone chooses to vote?
I have not always agreed with Nathaniel and I have said so in some comments some months back. Nathaniel came back and challenged me with scripture-based counter arguments. I still didn’t completely agree with him, but we ended up having a fruitful (at least on my end) discussion.